Pyromorphite, Germany

Hi all,Holger, nice picture of the Giesen pyro, greatly welcome. I have only a minimum of time to proceed with the article at the moment ... yesterday i took a lot photos of pyromorphites from different hesse and rhineland-palatinate localities from the collection of Michael Ochel so there will be some nice input i hope and i will add to the database subsequently. I will probably have more time end of next week and then add the rhineland-palatinate texts i have so far. Sebastian, please send me a PM when you are ready with the Schauinsland description,

Hi Michael, all,i´ll try to check some of the mine actae and records if there are reports on specific ore finds etc.The "old" Rosenberg mine and the Königstiel adit were connected underground so i wouldn´t look them upon as "separate" mines although the last workings were on the Königstiel veins in the north instead of Victor and Segen Gottes veins (as far as i remember now without reading the books B)- ). I will report back if i have found the time to read it.

Sebastian, what about the Schauinsland text? I´ll add more pictures of Rhineland-Palatinate subsequently and then write the descriptions when i have spare time to do ..

back from my vacation now. As we are getting ready for our easter excursion we were performing some REM-EDX scans of mineral specimens from our last trips. I added some black forest stuff to that as I read there is also pyromorphite at Grube Michael, Weiler, Lahr. And what a neat surprise - the first EDX showed a big "P" peak on a supposed "mimetite". The needly stuff proved to be mimetite, but some of the prismatic stuff is definitely pyro (with arsenic content). As these are nice crystals I will make some photos of the tested specimen and post it in the next day.

Schauinsland is still covered in snow. Hope it will be better easter as I hold a lecture about the ancient mining district next months and need the photos.

Best Regards

Holger

P.S. will have a "Schauinland" exhibition at the mineral fair in Freiburg in autumn. There should be some good pyros there....

I have strong doubts about the provenance of Rob Lavinsky's bubbly pale green pyromorphite. The only mine in the Black Forest which produced specimens of this colour and habit was Herrensegen Mine (although I've never seen a specimen of THAT quality).

Clara Mine, Rankach Valley, Oberwolfach Very famous for its rare and unique minerals (up to 400 valid species found there). On quartz pseudomorphs after Baryte with galena lenses, yellow groups of Pyromorphite xls up to about 1 cm can be found as well as beautiful needles and barrel shaped ones. Those are often pyromorphites (with P>As) as opposed by the labels of many collectors who label the yellow ones mimetite. Green, colourless (usually on Baryte, often with Segnitite/Beudantite) or even brown ones can be found, but those are usually micros.

Friedrich Christian and Herrensegen Mines, Wildschapbach Valley, Schapbach old, abandoned mining district close by and very similiar to the Clara Mine. There quartz pseudomorphs after Baryte occur, too. Pyromorphite forms Pseudomorphs after cm-sized galena cubes and nice needle-shaped xls (usually grass-green). Whereas those old-time findings are almost all from Friedrich-Christian Mine, new findings with greyish green botryoidal aggregates on quartz come from Herrensegen Mine (I will upload a photo of my piece the next days).

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